Highlights from Roy Choi's Reddit AMA

L.A.’s resident chef-philosopher Roy Choi is currently doing a Reddit AMA—it ends at 5pm, but it’s already off to a great start. The man behind Kogi BBQ, Pot, and Loco’l is answering questions about L.A.’s best burritos and tacos, his favorite books and board games, his go-to Jollibee’s order, and so much more.

He started the AMA off with a bang: “IamA Roy Choi. I make Korean BBQ tacos and worked with Jon Favreau on the movie, ‘Chef.’ You may have seen me on TV, but not in a Humvee, or on the streets serving it up. Now I’m on CNN. AMA!”

Here are nuggets of awesomeness from Choi’s AMA:

On whether he’s smoked with Bourdain:

“they don’t call me papi thc for nothing”

Favorite L.A. tacos:

“some are: mariscos jalisco, leo’s, ariza, taco zone”

On his favorite dish to make:

“i still love cooking the kogi taco because the way it affects everyone who eats it inspires me to believe in the good things in life even amidst the bad sometimes”

On the dish his mom makes better than anyone:

“kimchi jiggae and mauen tang. her bbindaedduk is pretty unbeatable too. i grew up on all this. it made me into the twisted soul that i am :)”

Favorite L.A. burrito:

“i used to like chabelita on western. but right now i gotta go with my own. kogi por vida. burrito life”

On awesome L.A. breweries:

“Golden Road is killing it right now locally and they have been good to Kogi.”

Favorite books:

“favorite book is on the road and where the wild things are and the giving tree”

Favorite board game:

“i roll weed on board games. i like chess tho”

On très lèches cake:

“dude, the tres leches is the stoner ultimate cake of ultimate stoner cakes. we once cooked them with 1/2 ounce of weed each and tripped for days.”

His advice to “other up and coming gay chefs”:

“other? i’m so flattered. i see no color or race or whatever, it’s the skill that makes you a chef and your culture and personality that make the flavor. just be you.”

On how to make instant ramen good:

“american cheese my friend. also use salted nori sheets and canned meats. do it up mang”

On law school:

“law school was a joke for me. socratic method was not a good thing for a guy who has problems with authority.”

Favorite places to eat in Honolulu:

On how he was able to open his first truck:

“i was out of a job, my friend called me, he had access to the truck, we trained on trucks for weeks, then gathered all the money we had and made the kogi taco. it blew us away and we were possessed. then we went out on the streets and put our heart and soul out there and people responded. twitter was huge too, technology and food. we were honest and naive. those were the keys.”

On his favorite “celebrity chef”:

“i respect eric ripert but he’s not a celebrity chef per se. he is the truth and a seeker of it.”

What he orders to judge a taco truck:

“al pastor and carne asada plus i taste the salsas and look at the taquero’s face”

Favorite album RN:

“Dilated Peoples: Directors of Photography“

On the weirdest food he’s tried:

“silk worms in korea. the dirty water hot dog in NYC is pretty weird in a delicious way too“

On Eddie Huang:

“i love what he’s doing and will champion the homie in whatever he does. we ate chego with Andy Ricker, talked about shorties, and just hung out“

Favorite L.A. ramen spot:

“people are gonna hate me but i love Tatsu ramen in LA. go ahead and sound the firing squad i know because i’m supposed to say Tsujita Ramen because everyone loves Tsujita Ramen but I think they are kinda just ok even tho we showcase them in the show. so what the fuck do i know?! ha”

Favorite Jollibee’s order:

“fried chicken and spaghetti combo with a halo halo at the end. ya heard?!”

On the next big food trend:

“Filipino bbq”

On starting another truck:

“kogi is my life. i am a one woman truck man”

…and then there’s our favorite Choi quote from the AMA, which doesn’t really have to do with anything: “home is where you lay your taco.”

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